EPA Awards $3.4 Million to Six New Jersey Communities To Clean up and Revitalize Contaminated Properties; Newark Receives $1 Million to Clean Up and Assess City Sites

(New York, N.Y.) Senior officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were joined today by U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez and Newark Deput Mayor Stefan Pryor to announce $1 million in funding to Newark, New Jersey to help the city revitalize and reinvest in Newark neighborhoods. Newark will use the funding to clean up three abandoned industrial properties and to assess other sites that may need to be cleaned up. The funding, presented to Newark by EPA Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response Mathy Stanislaus and Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck, was awarded through EPA’s Brownfields Program, which helps communities assess, clean up, redevelop, and reuse contaminated properties, ranging from former industrial parcels to old gas stations. The cleanup of contaminated properties and the ultimate investment in their redevelopment protects people’s health and the environment, reduces blight, revitalizes neighborhoods, and creates jobs. The revitalization of the Newark sites will pave the way for new businesses that are projected to create 55 new jobs.

In addition to the city of Newark, EPA selected Trenton, Jersey City and Elizabeth, and the Townships of Mantua and Maurice River to receive grants totaling $2.4 million to help them assess and clean up similarly contaminated sites.

“EPA brownfields grants help transform abandoned and contaminated sites to allow for the construction of new housing, businesses, parks and other redevelopment that creates jobs and helps revitalize our cities,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “Not only will these cleanups produce jobs, they will protect the health of area residents and improve the quality of people’s lives.”

The Brownfields Program was created by Congress in 2002. It helps states and communities around the country clean up and revitalize properties that may be contaminated and are not currently being put to use. EPA’s Brownfields Program encourages redevelopment of America’s estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.

EPA today announced a total of more than $76 million in new investments across the country that will redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and help create jobs while protecting public health. Since its inception, EPA’s brownfields investments have leveraged more than $16.3 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from a variety of public and private sources, and resulted in approximately 70,000 jobs. EPA is selecting 214 grants through the Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grants programs that will go to 40 states and three tribes across the country.

“If these grants create jobs at the rate of past grants – and we expect that they will – then the projects stemming from these grants will create roughly 5,500 jobs,” said Mathy Stanislaus, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. “That’s a big part of what these grants do. It’s not just removing contamination, it’s an investment in a community that can create jobs and economic opportunities.”

The recipients of brownfields grants in New Jersey are:

NewarkBrownfields grants of $1 million to Newark will be used to excavate and dispose of petroleum contaminated soil, and clean up petroleum storage tanks at the former Northern New Jersey Oil site on McCarter Highway. Once the cleanup is completed, the property will be redeveloped as a light manufacturing facility. In addition, Newark will use brownfield grants to clean up the former Scientific Chemical property, located on Wilson Avenue, and the former Central Steel property on Doremus Avenue. Redevelopment of these three sites is expected to result in 55 permanent jobs. Grant funds will also be used to assess other sites across the city.

TrentonThe city of Trenton will receive four grants totaling $1 million for the cleanup and assessment of brownfields properties throughout the city. Of the total, $400,000 will be used to clean up the Clinton Commerce Center property at 780 North Clinton Avenue and the Pattern Machine and Foundry property at 241 3rd Street. The Clinton Commerce site was abandoned as a result of flooding caused by Hurricane Floyd in 1999, after years of use as a rubber and tire manufacturing facility. The property will become part of a 99-acre urban park project. The Pattern Machine and Foundry site was in continual industrial use from 1876 until 1993. The brownfields grant will be used to clean up the property in preparation for the construction of 12 new homes. The remaining $600,000 will be used to assess various sites throughout Trenton, including the former Federated Metals site at 300 Enterprise Avenue, for future development projects.

Jersey CityJersey City will receive two cleanup grants totaling $400,000. Two hundred thousand will be used to help clean up properties at 451-457 Ocean Avenue and 79-81 Dwight Street, the future site of new residential housing. Two hundred thousand will be used to transform 17 acres of former rail yards, junkyards and auto repair shops into a public park that will serve the adjacent residential community.

ElizabethThe city of Elizabeth will receive $400,000 to assess hazardous substances and petroleum contamination in the city’s central business district. The eventual cleanup and redevelopment of this 20-acre area will help revitalize the city’s entire downtown.

MantuaMantua Township will receive $200,000 for the cleanup of hazardous substances at the former Struthers-Dunn property. Struthers-Dunn manufactured electrical relays for industrial and military uses for approximately 40 years at this location.

Maurice RiverMaurice River will receive $400,000 for the assessment of three brownfields properties, the Ackley Garage Property, the Cheli Sand and Gravel Property, and the Sapello Foundry property, as well as other sites throughout the township.